Happy birthday boys!

Once again, I must apologize for my month-long absence. It has been a rather difficult month for me, with a lot of things going on. Also its been unforgivingly cold outside! I never liked November anyway.

But there is one excellent thing happening in November - Marco and Perry celebrate their second birthday on November 25th! Can you believe it? The skinny boys are two :)



And you know what that means - we need a flood of baby pictures!







They've changed so much. I wish i had a chance to meet them when they were all small and squishy. I met the boys for the first time when they were just a hair younger than six months old and they were almost full grown already. BTW if you want to know who's who in the baby pictures - Perry is the only red puppy and Marco is the only black and white baby with no blaze on his face. He just has a white nose tip, while his other two black and white siblings had a full white stripe.

Just for kicks, here's what the boys looked like when i brought them home! Here they are at the breeder's house at 6 months old...



And here are my stunning gentlemen now...


Happy birthday skinny boys!

Happy G-day, skinny!

Dogs, Art and a cup of tea has been invited to join the DogTime Blog Network. I'm flattered and excited at the same time. i now have a DogTime badge to display!




In other news, I still haven't gotten around to any painting yet. Man, shame on me. But I'm gonna try tonight. I've got a few really spiff shells penciled out and i can't wait to bring them to life.

It also seems like I'll be reformatting my computer very soon because it is just not working properly anymore. I'm trying to find a way to back up 7 gigs of pictures and stuff. I'm thinking I better back it all up fast before there's that final crash where everything dies. Always have a backup plan folks! I've got a year and a half of pictures of my dogs and several years of my cats and fish... and a few other "memory worthy" occasions. I'd be crushed if they were to disappear. So lets make sure it doesn't happen!

and lastly, September 15th was Marco's gotcha day! Everyone congratulate him, the crazy boy has been with me for a year! He is incredibly different from his shy, gentle littermate Perry. Marc wiggles his whole body when he's happy, jumps in your lap whether you want it or not, thinks its funny to piss off the cats, and makes sure to lick every piece of kibble in his bowl before actually eating any. I've never met another dog with so much personality. Happy (belated) gotcha day, skinny boy!

Happy Gotcha Day, Perry!

I can't believe it skinny man, you've been with us for a year!

Spring semester last year I began to obsess with Italian Greyhounds. I got in contact with the only IG breeder who actually spoke to me - she happened to have some 6 month old puppies at the time when i was looking to add an adolescent dog into my household. It was Perry (aka JJ) and two littermates Hope and Trouble (now Marco). Perry was the quiet calm one. The one who would rather sit on your lap then run with the others. Somehow the less active puppy didn't seem as enticing as the crazy active ones at the time. But this is the one that the breeder felt should go home with me and i trusted her decision. I was just happy to get a great dog from a great breeder. Hey, who knew that i'd bring the other littermate home in a couple of months anyway?

Perry was the perfect puppy at home, aside from some light chewing. And shyness outdoors. He was scared to death of the cats for the first week or so, because never having seen a dog inthe apartment before, they were only interested in giving him dirty looks. Anton followed Perry around for the first month. In his first few days with us, Perry once wandered into the bathroom. and Anton followed him and sat down in the doorway. Suddenly I hear Perry crying. He was trapped in the bathroom because he was afraid to pass by the 'scary' staring kitty. hehe, sissy boy...

Seems like its been such a long year - we've been through a lot! Work at the grooming shop, show classes, beach days, reintroduction to Marco, a fear-pooping stage, "i hate food" stages, hospitalization, an addison's disease scare, obedience class, our first shows, our first points, tons of dog friends... I have learned that I suck as a dog trainer, too

I adore this little red dog. I think he is just about the cutest thing that ever lived, especially when he randomly playbows to huge confused dogs. I think the breeder was right - he is totally heartdog :)

Best cat ever turns 11!

April 20th is the 110th day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. It is Adolf Hitler's birthday (I just found out a few days ago). Apparently John Oliver's debut as a comedy central standup dude. The anniversary of some other jazz. And TimTim's birthday. I forgot to do a birthday tribute to him last year, and I feel obliged to ramble about him right now.

April 20th Tim turns eleven. Weeeeeell... we don't know his real birthday. My mother brought him home on August 20, 1997. I was a lonely ten year old demanding a pet. Something four-legged and furry that would play with me. It was significant to me that he had a birthday so we decided to make one up. We were told he was three months old. But he was an awfully big kitten so we assumed he was four months. We counted four months back and made it official, his birthday was to be april 20th.

As a baby he suffered from major scaredy-cat syndrome and was the most unsocial animal i had ever met. He was alright with me and my mum but that was about it. He knew his hiding spots well and he loved to take advantage of them. Of course being a child and not understanding morale of the shy animal, i'd dig him up from those hiding spots and show him to friends that came over. Or worse - i've actually put him on a leash and walked him a few times. He's probably still holding a grudge. I've bathed him many times. I filled the tub with water and forced him to swim once (i was there and watching of course - but still it was ridiculous). I've dressed him up. I even brought another cat and two dogs into our household. He's gone through a lot of torture with me.

Ehh, not like Tim hasn't had his vengeful moments. He's pooped on my pants before. He's pooped all over my bed. hairballs, hairballs, hairballs - also on my bed. Within the first few days that i got him he gave me a very deep scratch - I still have the scar. I actually hope it never fades. He always has to sit on any important paper i may be reading. He walks across my keyboard. He "accidentally" puts his head on the delete key and makes my browser very quickly go through all the pages I've been to, backwards all the way to the homepage. He sheds clouds of hair - i get the feeling that years after he's no longer with us I'll still be picking his hair out of my food and finding tumbleweeds of it skirting across the room.

I adore this cat immensely, can you tell? And every day he continues to amuse me. He's a thinker, a dignified cat who gets embarrased easily. The best, though, is when he actually will let his guard down and be silly for a few moments. When he will chase a laser or jump after a cat toy, or get high on catnip. Y'know, as long as the other animals aren't looking. Cause they can't know that he's just like them. lol i get the feeling that i have a lot in common with Tim. We're both morally mature way beyond our years. We're not outgoing. We take pleasure in smacking others, whether they deserve it or not. We don't believe in "only human" (...or "only cat") excuses. After all, we've got a reputation to upkeep. even if its only in our heads.

Happy eleventh birthday Tim. Grumpy old man, you're a huge part of my life and I can't imagine it without you. And when I say "old man" I'm only kidding.